Valentino Rossi is feeling the heat in front of the Laguna Seca grand prix. Although he goes into the race with an advantage, he knows all too well that breathe easy and Stoner will gobble him up. This danger of Stoner is particularly eminent after Rossi's poor run of form at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Rossi has been on the Podium just once in his 3 attempts at the track and that too, came in his first race here in 2005. Bike and tyre problems have plagued the Italian in his last two appearances here.

This year though, things have been different. The Fiat Yamaha rider has not had too many issues with his bike or with the new Bridgestone tyres. These are ominous signs for Stoner who would be looking to capitalize on the fact that the track does not rate too high on the Italians good-books. However, Rossi has been in threatening form this season and has started half of the races so far, from the front row, something he believes will be more vital at Laguna Seca.

"We are going there with the same package that we had in Germany and so we're going to have to work very hard to close the gap in performance to Stoner; we can't afford to start from anywhere except the front because, with him in this form, it is then very hard to catch him,'says Rossi in the run-up to this weekend's Grand Prix, having been unable to catch Stoner at the last three races despite fearsome race pace.

"Laguna hasn't been one of my favourite tracks in the three years since we've been going there and it's one of the only ones on the calendar where I haven't won. We're aiming to win this week, that's for sure!

"It's been a hard track for our bike but it's been a very good track for Bridgestone and I am confident that our package will work very well there. The last two years I've had serious disappointments in the race and it's been one of the low points of both seasons, I hope I have had all the bad luck I'm going to have there and that this year I can enjoy myself!" says the Fiat Yamaha rider, the winner of three races already this term.

"California is a great place and this year we will be doing all we can to leave it with good memories, not bad ones!"

Despite concerns over his qualification timings, Rossi will go into the race as a marginal favourite over Casey Stoner.